Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, is among African leaders and high-profile election observers currently stranded in Guinea-Bissau after military officers seized power on Wednesday in a coup d’état.
Jonathan was part of a 36-member delegation on the joint observer mission led by the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the West African Elders Forum (WAEF), deployed to the country to monitor the presidential election held on Sunday.
Naijaonpoint reports that the coup followed self-declared victory claims by President Umaro Embaló, who is seeking re-election, and his main challenger, Fernando Dias, even as Guinea-Bissau’s electoral commission had yet to release official results.
The military takeover occurred after both candidates separately announced themselves as winners, despite the absence of certified results from the national electoral body.
Following the coup, the military closed all land and air borders, shut down airports, and grounded civil movement, effectively trapping the observer delegation and several top officials in the country.
Airspace operations were suspended, airports shut, and national entry and exit points blocked by the junta.
Reacting hours after the military intervention, the AU-ECOWAS-WAEF joint mission expressed strong reservations, describing the situation as a worrying disruption.
“It’s regrettable that this announcement came at a time when the missions had just concluded meeting with the two leading presidential candidates, who assured us of their willingness to accept the will of the people,” the statement read.
The mission said the coup statement broke while observers were still within the election confidence-building phase with the candidates, who had earlier shown openness to a peaceful democratic outcome.
The 36 observers demanded immediate steps by the African Union and ECOWAS to restore constitutional order, signalling that military intrusion into election outcomes must not stand.
They also demanded the immediate release of all detained public officials arrested during the power seizure.
The observer delegation is billed to exit Guinea-Bissau on November 29, according to mission scheduling submitted prior to the coup disruption.
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